Insights into biaxial extensional tectonics: an examplefrom the Sandıklı Graben,West Anatolia,Turkey

West Anatolia, together with the Aegean Sea and the easternmost part of Europe, is one of the best examples of continental extensional tectonics. It is a complex area bounded by the Aegean–Cyprus Arc to the south and the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) to the north. Within this complex and enigmatic framework, the Sandıklı Graben (10 km wide, 30 km long) has formed at the eastern continuation of the Western Anatolian extensional province at the north‐northwestward edge of the Isparta Angle. Recent studies have suggested that the horst–graben structures in West Anatolia formed in two distinct extensional phases. According to this model the first phase of extension commenced in the Early–Middle Miocene and the last, which is accepted as the onset of neotectonic regime, in Early Pliocene. However, it is controversial whether two‐phase extension was separated by a short period of erosion or compression during Late Miocene–Early Pliocene. Both field observations and kinematic analysis imply that the Sandıklı Graben has existed since the Late Pliocene, with biaxial extension on its margins which does not necessarily indicate rotation of regional stress distribution in time. Although the graben formed later in the neotectonic period, the commencement of extension in the area could be Early Pliocene (c. 5 Ma) following a severe but short time of erosion at the end of Late Miocene. The onset of the extensional regime might be due to the initiation of westward motion of Anatolian Platelet along the NAFZ that could be triggered by the higher rate of subduction at the east Aegean–Cyprus Arc in the south of the Aegean Sea. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Late Cretaceous tectonic switch from a Western Pacific‐ to an Andean‐Type continental margin evolution in East Asia,and a foreland basin development in NE China

The early Cretaceous structure of NE China was a result of slab‐rollback‐driven extensional tectonics, characteristic of Western Pacific‐type continental margins. Oblique docking of a microcontinent along the Asian active margin in the early Late Cretaceous induced a compressional stress regime that brought about an Andean‐type continental margin development. Partitioning of contractional–transpressional strain across NE China produced a retroarc foreland basin system, comprising, from east to west, an orogenic wedge, a foredeep (Songliao basin), a forebulge (Great Xing'an Range) and a back‐bulge depozone (Hailar and Erlian basins). A sub‐circular lacustrine depozone in the pre‐existing Songliao basin evolved into a NNE‐trending depocentre near the forebulge and acquired a westward flowing fluvial–deltaic drainage system during the Campanian. Development of this retroarc foreland basin system signals a significant tectonic switch from a Western Pacific‐type to an Andean‐type continental margin evolution in the geological history of East Asia.     

Palaeomagnetic constraints on the geodynamic evolution of the Gibraltar Arc

Subduction zone roll‐back was recently put forward as a convincing model to explain the geometry and evolution of the Gibraltar Arc. For other subduction‐related arc systems of the Mediterranean, such as the Calabrian Arc and the Hellenic Arc, palaeomagnetic rotation data from Neogene extensional basins provided important constraints on geodynamic evolution models. Here, we present the results of a palaeomagnetic study of 13 continuous sections that are located in E–W transects across the Neogene sedimentary basins of Morocco and Spain. They provide evidence that no significant rotation about vertical axes has occurred in the Gibraltar Arc since the late Tortonian. Comparison with other Mediterranean arc systems shows strong similarities as regards geodynamic evolution. The timing of rotation in the Gibraltar Arc is markedly older than in the Calabrian and Hellenic arcs, and suggests that it is related to the first Neogene extensional phase of the western Mediterranean in which the Algerian–Provençal Basin opened.     

南大西洋东岸尼日尔三角洲大型重力滑动构造东南缘的断裂和泥构造

尼日尔三角洲位于南大西洋东岸被动大陆边缘之上,以大型重力滑动构造为主要构造特征。该大型重力滑动构造的东南缘位于喀麦隆境内,断裂和泥构造都很发育。这里的断裂包括重力滑动构造后缘伸展形成的正断层、侧翼剪切形成的撕裂断层和泥底辟成因的断层。泥柱和泥墙是研究区的两种类型的泥构造。泥柱代表主动泥底辟;泥墙是撕裂断层控制下被动泥底辟的结果。研究区重力滑动构造相关的断裂活动起始于中新世中期,随后,在上新世和第四纪各有一个断裂活动的加速期。每个断裂活动的加速期都伴随有泥底辟。中新世中期有一次泥底辟,上新世和第四纪各有两次泥底辟。     

Marine geophysical evidence for former expansion and flow of the Greenland Ice Sheet across the north‐east Greenland continental shelf

High‐resolution swath bathymetry and TOPAS sub‐bottom profiler acoustic data from the inner and middle continental shelf of north‐east Greenland record the presence of streamlined mega‐scale glacial lineations and other subglacial landforms that are formed in the surface of a continuous soft sediment layer. The best‐developed lineations are found in Westwind Trough, a bathymetric trough connecting Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden Gletscher and Zachariae Isstrøm to the continental shelf edge. The geomorphological and stratigraphical data indicate that the Greenland Ice Sheet covered the inner‐middle shelf in north‐east Greenland during the most recent ice advance of the Late Weichselian glaciation. Earlier sedimentological and chronological studies indicated that the last major delivery of glacigenic sediment to the shelf and Fram Strait was prior to the Holocene during Marine Isotope Stage 2, supporting our assertion that the subglacial landforms and ice sheet expansion in north‐east Greenland occurred during the Late Weichselian. Glacimarine sediment gravity flow deposits found on the north‐east Greenland continental slope imply that the ice sheet extended beyond the middle continental shelf, and supplied subglacial sediment direct to the shelf edge with subsequent remobilisation downslope. These marine geophysical data indicate that the flow of the Late Weichselian Greenland Ice Sheet through Westwind Trough was in the form of a fast‐flowing palaeo‐ice stream, and that it provides the first direct geomorphological evidence for the former presence of ice streams on the Greenland continental shelf. The presence of streamlined subglacially derived landforms and till layers on the shallow AWI Bank and Northwind Shoal indicates that ice sheet flow was not only channelled through the cross‐shelf bathymetric troughs but also occurred across the shallow intra‐trough regions of north‐east Greenland. Collectively these data record for the first time that ice streams were an important glacio‐dynamic feature that drained interior basins of the Late Weichselian Greenland Ice Sheet across the adjacent continental margin, and that the ice sheet was far more extensive in north‐east Greenland during the Last Glacial Maximum than the previous terrestrial–glacial reconstructions showed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of the Messinian Deep Stage on karst development around the Mediterranean Sea. Examples from Southern France

It is difficult to explain the position and behaviour of the main karst springs of southern France without calling on a drop in the water table below those encountered at the lowest levels of Pleistocene glacio-eustatic fluctuations. The principal karst features around the Mediterranean are probably inherited from the Messinian period (“Salinity crisis”) when sea level dropped dramatically due to the closing of the Straight of Gibraltar and desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea. Important deep karst systems were formed because the regional ground water dropped and the main valleys were entrenched as canyons. Sea level rise during the Pliocene caused sedimentation in the Messinian canyons and water, under a low hydraulic head, entered the upper cave levels.

The powerful submarine spring of Port-Miou is located south of Marseille in a drowned canyon of the Calanques massif. The main water flow comes from a vertical shaft that extends to a depth of more than 147 m bsl. The close shelf margin comprises a submarine karst plateau cut by a deep canyon whose bottom reaches 1,000 m bsl. The canyon ends upstream in a pocket valley without relation to any important continental valley. This canyon was probably excavated by the underground paleoriver of Port-Miou during the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Currently, seawater mixes with karst water at depth. The crisis also affected inland karst aquifers. The famous spring of Fontaine de Vaucluse was explored by a ROV (remote observation vehicle) to a depth of 308 m, 224 m below current sea level. Flutes observed on the wall of the shaft indicate the spring was formerly an air-filled shaft connected to a deep underground river flowing towards a deep valley. Outcroppings and seismic data confirm the presence of deep paleo-valleys filled with Pliocene sediments in the current Rhône and Durance valleys. In the Ardèche, several vauclusian springs may also be related to the Messinian Rhône canyon, located at about 200 m below present sea level. A Pliocene base level rise resulted in horizontal dry cave levels. In the hinterland of Gulf of Lion, the Cévennes karst margin was drained toward the hydrologic window opened by the Messinian erosional surface on the continental shelf.     

Deep-water sediment wave fields, bottom current sand channels and gravity flow channel-lobe systems: Gulf of Cadiz, NE Atlantic

Abstract A study of the seafloor of the Gulf of Cadiz west of the Strait of Gibraltar, using an integrated geophysical and sedimentological data set, gives new insights into sediment deposition from downslope thermohaline bottom currents. In this area, the Mediterranean Outflow (MO) begins to mix with North Atlantic waters and separates into alongslope geostrophic and downslope ageostrophic components. Changes in bedform morphology across the study area indicate a decrease in the peak velocity of the MO from >1 m s^?1 to <0·5 m s^?1. The associated sediment waves form a continuum from sand waves to muddy sand waves to mud waves. A series of downslope‐oriented channels, formed by the MO, are found where the MO starts to descend the continental slope at a water depth of ≈700 m. These channels are up to 40 km long, have gradients of <0·5°, a fairly constant width of ≈2 km and a depth of ≈75 m. Sand waves move down the channels that have mud wave‐covered levees similar to those seen in turbidite channel–levee systems, although the channel size and levee thickness do not decrease downslope as in typical turbidite channel systems. The channels terminate abruptly where the MO lifts off the seafloor. Gravity flow channels with lobes on the basin floor exist downslope from several of the bottom current channels. Each gravity flow system has a narrow, slightly sinuous channel, up to 20 m deep, feeding a depositional lobe up to 7 km long. Cores from the lobes recovered up to 8·5 m of massive, well‐sorted, fine sand, with occasional mud clasts. This work provides an insight into the complex facies patterns associated with strong bottom currents and highlights key differences between bottom current and gravity flow channel–levee systems. The distribution of sand within these systems is of particular interest, with applications in understanding the architecture of hydrocarbon reservoirs formed in continental slope settings.     

Evolution of the southern Taiwan–Sinzi Folded Zone and opening of the southern Okinawa trough

Recent interpretation of seismic sections and free-air gravity anomalies in offshore northern Taiwan reveals that the southern Taiwan–Sinzi Folded Zone began to form in late Middle Miocene, though it was mainly constructed in the Late Pliocene with strong reverse faulting and folding. Two westward progradational sequences were deposited in the shelf basin with sediments supplied from the southern Taiwan–Sinzi Folded Zone and the southern Ryukyu Arc. These two structures are displaced by several northwest-striking dextral strike–slip faults that were active in the early Quaternary when the clockwise-rotated southern Ryukyu Arc and the folded southern Taiwan–Sinzi Folded Zone were broken. It is believed that recent extension in the southern Okinawa Trough started in the early Quaternary because uplift on the southern Taiwan–Sinzi Folded Zone continued to latest Pliocene–early Quaternary. Paleogene–Miocene sediments of the East China Sea Shelf in the western part of the southern Okinawa Trough Basin are interpreted to indicate that the East China Sea Shelf Basin extended to the east of the southern Taiwan–Sinzi Folded Zone.     

尼日尔三角洲的重力滑动构造

位于南大西洋东岸被动大陆边缘之上的尼日尔三角洲发育一大型重力滑动构造。自非洲大陆向南大西洋方向,该重力滑动构造可以划分出前缘挤压构造变形区和后缘拉张构造变形区。前缘挤压构造变形,形成褶皱冲断带;后缘拉张构造变形,形成堑垒构造;两者之间的过渡带发育滑脱褶皱。三角洲沉积的时代为始新世—第四纪,地层剖面自下而上依次是海相页岩(Akata组)、近海三角洲相砂岩—页岩互层(Agbada组)和陆相冲积砂岩(Benin组)。3个岩石地层单元都是穿时的,向大洋方向变新。重力滑动构造的主滑脱面位于Akata海相页岩中。根据生长地层、不整合以及卷入变形的地层时代,重力滑动构造起始于约12 Ma,伴生有广泛发育的泥构造。重力滑动构造的形成可能与新生代喀麦隆火山带(Cameroon volcanic line)的火山活动有一定的关系。     

Fault kinematic and Plio-Quaternary paleostress evolution of the Bakırçay Basin,Western Turkey

ABSTRACT

At the end of the Cenozoic, western Turkey was fragmented by intense intra-continental tectonic deformation resulting in the formation of two extensional areas: a transtensional pull-apart basin systems in the northwest, and graben systems in the central and southwest areas. The question of the connection of this Late Cenozoic extensional tectonics to plate kinematics has long been an issue of discussion. This study presents the results of the fault slip data collected in Bak?rçay Basin in the west of Turkey and addresses changes in the direction of extensional stresses over the Plio-Quaternary. Field observations and quantitative analysis show that Bak?rçay Basin is not a simple graben basin that has evolved during a single phase. It started as a graben basin with extensional regime in the Pliocene and was transformed into a pull-apart basin under the influence of transtensional forces during the Quaternary. A chronology of two successive extensional episodes has been established and provides reasoning to constrain the timing and location of subduction-related back-arc tectonics along the Aegean region and collision-related extrusion tectonics in Turkey. The first NW–SE trending extension occurred during the Pliocene extensional phase, characterized by slab rollback and progressive steepening of the northward subduction of the African plate under the Anatolian Plate. Western Turkey has been affected, during the Middle Quaternary, by regional subsidence, and the direction of extension changed to N–S, probably in relation with the propagation of the North Anatolian Fault System. Since the Late Quaternary, NE–SW extension dominates northwest Turkey and results in the formation and development of elongated transtensional basin systems. Counterclockwise rotation of Anatolian block which is bounded to the north by the right-lateral strike-slip North Anatolian Fault System, accompanies to this extensional phase.     

Slab rollback suggested by latest Miocene to Pliocene forearc stress and migration of volcanic front in southern Kyushu, northern Ryukyu Arc

The northern Ryukyu Arc has active backarc rift, neutral-stress forearc, and active accretionary prism. The Okinawa Trough has been shaped by the episodic rifting in the backarc. Paleostresses were inferred in this study from mesoscale faults in Neogene forearc sediments called the Miyazaki Group, southeast Kyushu in the northern Ryukyu Arc. The forearc stress changed from compressional to extensional from the latest Miocene through Early Pliocene time. The stress history is concordant with the transition in tectonic regime from folding to rifting in the backarc. The transition in the stress state occurred simultaneously also with trenchward movement of the volcanic front. These phenomena suggest that the subducting slab under southern Kyushu became steeper in the Early Pliocene. Extensional tectonics ceased sometime in the late Pliocene or early to mid-Pleistocene, concordant with the counterclockwise change of subducting direction of the Philippine Sea Plate.     

The Plio–Pleistocene evolution of extensional tectonics in northern Tuscany,as constrained by new gravimetric data from the Montecarlo Basin (lower Arno Valley,Italy)

A detailed gravimetric study has been integrated with the most recent stratigraphic data in the area comprised between the Arno river and the foothills of the Northern Apennines, in northern Tuscany (central Italy). A Plio–Pleistocene basin lies in this area; its sedimentary succession can be subdivided from the bottom, in five allostratigraphic units: (1) Lower–Middle Pliocene shallow marine deposits; (2) Late Pliocene (?)–Early Pleistocene fluvio-lacustrine deposits; (3) late–Early Pleistocene–Middle Pleistocene alluvial to fluvial red conglomerates (Montecarlo Formation); (4) Middle Pleistocene alluvial to fluvial red conglomerates (Cerbaie and Casa Poggio ai Lecci Formations); (5) alluvial to fluvial deposits of Late Pleistocene age. The Bouguer anomaly map displays a strong minimum in the northeastern sector of the basin, and a gentle gradient from west to east. The map of the horizontal gradients permits to recognise three major fault zones, two of which along the southwestern and northeastern margins of the basin, and one along the southeastern edge of the Pisani Mountains. A 2.5D gravimetric modelling along a SW–NE section across the basin displays a thick wedge of sediments of density 2.25 g/cm³ (about 1700 m in the depocenter) overlying a layer of density 2.55 g/cm³, 1000 m thick, which rests on a basement of 2.72 g/cm³. The most of the sediment wedge is here referred to Upper Pliocene (?)–Lower Pleistocene, because borehole data show Pliocene marine deposits thinning northward close to the southern margin of the area. The layer below is referred to Ligurids and upper Tuscan Nappe units; the densest layer is interpreted as composed of Triassic evaporites, quartzites and Palaeozoic basement. According to Carmignani low-angle extensional tectonics began between Serravallian and early Messinian, thinning the Apennine nappe stack. At the end of Middle Pliocene, syn-rift deposition ceased in the Viareggio Basin (west of the investigated area) as demonstrated by Argnani and co-workers, and high-angle extensional tectonics migrated eastward up to the Monte Albano Ridge. A syn-rift continental sedimentary wedge developed in Late Pliocene–Early Pleistocene, until its hanging wall block was dismembered, during late Early Pleistocene, by NE-dipping faults, causing the uplift of its western portion (the Pisani Mountains). This breakup caused exhumation and erosion of Triassic units whose clastics where shed into the surrounding palaeo-Arno Valley in alluvial–fluvial deposits unconformably overlying the Lower Pleistocene syn-rift deposits. In the late Pleistocene SW–NE-trending fault systems created the steep southeastern edge of the Pisani Mountains and the resulting throw is recorded in Middle Pleistocene deposits across the present Arno Valley. This tectonic phase probably continues at present, offshore Livorno, as evidenced by the epicentres of earthquakes.     

世界著名深水油气盆地的构造特征及对我国南海北部深水油气勘探的启示

介绍世界著名深水油气盆地的主要特征,着重构造特征,并与南海北部深水区进行了对比。世界著名深水油气盆地产出的大地构造条件具多样性,虽然大多数位于开阔大洋被动陆缘（南大西洋裂谷系、北海、澳大利亚西北陆架盆地）,但边缘海的被动陆缘（墨西哥湾盆地）、转换大陆边缘（洛杉矶盆地）、主动陆缘（南沙海槽盆地）也可形成极佳的深水含油气盆地。南海北部深水区具有世界某些重要深水含油气盆地类似的特征,如位于被动陆缘和大河出口下方,以裂陷期的湖相富有机质页岩为主要生油岩,白云凹陷发育上下叠置的6层深水扇等,这都是有利的石油地质条件。但南海北部深水区盐层和盐构造不发育,构造圈闭相对较不发育,使深水油气系统的研究更加困难,也更具开拓意义。      

Neotectonics of Turkey – a synthesis

Turkey forms one of the most actively deforming regions in the world and has a long history of devastating earthquakes. The better understanding of its neotectonic features and active tectonics would provide insight, not only for the country but also for the entire Eastern Mediterranean region. Active tectonics of Turkey is the manifestation of collisional intracontinental convergence- and tectonic escape-related deformation since the Early Pliocene (∼5 Ma). Three major structures govern the neotectonics of Turkey; they are dextral North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ), sinistral East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ) and the Aegean–Cyprean Arc. Also, sinistral Dead Sea Fault Zone has an important role. The Anatolian wedge between the NAFZ and EAFZ moves westward away from the eastern Anatolia, the collision zone between the Arabian and the Eurasian plates. Ongoing deformation along, and mutual interaction among them has resulted in four distinct neotectonic provinces, namely the East Anatolian contractional, the North Anatolian, the Central Anatolian ‘Ova’ and the West Anatolian extensional provinces. Each province is characterized by its unique structural elements, and forms an excellent laboratory to study active strike-slip, normal and reverse faulting and the associated basin formation.     

Morphogenesis of the SW Balearic continental slope and adjacent abyssal plain,Western Mediterranean Sea

We present the seafloor morphology and shallow seismic structure of the continental slope south-east of the Balearic promontory and of the adjacent Algero-Balearic abyssal plain from multibeam and chirp sonar data. The main purpose of this research was to identify the sediment pathways from the Balearic promontory to the Algero-Balearic deep basin from the Early Pliocene to the Present. The morphology of the southern Balearic margin is controlled by a SW–NE structural trend, whose main expressions are the Emile Baudot Escarpment transform fault, and a newly discovered WSW–ENE trend that affects the SW end of the escarpment and the abyssal plain. We relate the two structural trends to right-lateral simple shear as a consequence of the Miocene westward migration of the Gibraltar Arc. Newly discovered steep and narrow volcanic ridges were probably enabled to grow by local transtension along the transform margin. Abyssal plain knolls and seahills relate to the subsurface deformation of early stage halokinetic structures such as salt rollers, salt anticlines, and salt pillows. The limited thickness of the overburden and the limited amount of deformation in the deep basin prevent the formation of more mature halokinetic structures such as diapirs, salt walls, bulbs, and salt extrusions. The uppermost sediment cover is affected by a dense pattern of sub-vertical small throw normal faults resulting from extensional stress induced in the overburden by subsurface salt deformation structures. Shallow gas seismic character and the possible presence of an active polygonal fault system suggest upward fluid migration and fluid and sediment expulsion at the seafloor through a probable mud volcano and other piercement structures. One large debris flow deposit, named Formentera Debris Flow, has been identified on the lower slope and rise of the south Formentera margin. Based on current observations, we hypothesize that the landslide originating the Formentera Debris Flow occurred in the Holocene, perhaps in historical times.

尼日尔三角洲的沉积-构造特征

尼日尔三角洲位于非洲大陆西海岸的几内亚湾,由尼日尔河注入大西洋形成的,是世界上最大的三角洲之一。它发育于冈瓦纳大陆裂解形成的中、西非裂谷系和大西洋被动大陆边缘交汇部位,主体位于大西洋洋壳之上,部分位于非洲前寒武纪结晶基底之上。中、西非中生代裂谷系通过控制贝努埃-尼日尔河系的发育,间接控制三角洲的形成演化。尼日尔三角洲是一个进积型三角洲,具有典型的进积三角洲沉积序列,自下而上依次是海相页岩(Akata组)、近海三角洲相砂岩-页岩互层(Agbada组)和陆相冲积砂岩(Benin组)。三个岩石地层单位均规律性穿时,向洋方向变新。尼日尔三角洲层序中发育一大型重力滑动构造。该重力滑动构造的主滑脱面位于Akata海相页岩中,可以划分出前缘挤压构造变形区和后缘拉张伸展构造变形区。挤压构造变形区发育褶皱冲断带,伸展构造变形区发育堑垒构造,两者之间的过渡带发育滑脱褶皱。尼日尔三角洲的重力构造伴生有广泛发育的泥构造。重力动构造的形成可能与新生代喀麦隆火山带(Cameroon volcanic line)有一定的关系。     

Extension structural records in the Qinshui basin (North China) since the Late Mesozoic

Qinshui basin has abundant coal-bed methane resources and has been undergoing intensive intracontinental rifting and extensional tectonics since the Late Mesozoic. Some fractures, which were previously considered as conjugate shear fractures, are interpreted as joint sets with extension characteristics, for the first time in the Qinshui basin. The widely distributed joint sets with stable attitudes can be divided into four sets. This paper presents updated results of fault-slip datasets collected in different zones of the Qinshui basin and addresses the changes in the direction of extensional stresses since the Late Mesozoic. Based on the analysis results of the slickenline of normal faults, joint sets in the field, and focal mechanism solutions data from the Shanxi Province, we identified four main directions of extension since the Late Mesozoic in the Qinshui basin: (1) Early Cenozoic ENE–WSW (85 ± 15°) extension; (2) Palaeogene NNE–SSW (30 ± 5°) extension; (3) Miocene NW–SE (135 ± 15°) extension; and (4) Late Pliocene–quaternary NNW–SSE (170 ± 5°) extension. The principal extension directions in the Qinshui basin seem to have undergone a counterclockwise rotation from the Early Cenozoic to the Miocene. We prefer that the extension deformation events in the Qinshui basin since the Late Mesozoic were mainly related to the back-arc spreading induced by westward subduction of the paleo-Pacific plate under the Eurasian continent.     

Shallow frontal deformation related to active continental subduction: structure and recent stresses in the westernmost Betic Cordillera

The westernmost Betic Cordillera front is located along the arcuate alpine belt formed by the interaction of the Eurasian‐African plate boundary and the Alboran continental domain in between. Although classical geological data suggest that the western Cordillera front is inactive, recent GPS data show a westward–north‐westward motion of up to 3.4 mm a^?1 with respect to the foreland. In addition, the increasing thickness of Guadalquivir sedimentary infill towards the Cordillera, and the rectilinear character of the front formed by soft sediments, suggest that the Cordillera is still active. Large ENE–WSW‐oriented open folds detected in the field, seismic reflection profiles and new audiomagnetotellurics data are consistent with active deformation. Fracture analysis in Quaternary deposits evidences recent NW–SE horizontal compression. The GPS motion and maximum stress orientation may be due to north‐westward tectonic collision of the westernmost Betic Cordillera, accommodated at depth by active continental subduction of the Iberian lithosphere.     

Copper‐gold mineralisation in New Guinea: Tectonics,lineaments, thermochronology and structure

In New Guinea, the upper crust is rich in Late Miocene and Pliocene copper‐gold deposits, yet the host intrusives are mainly in the New Guinea Fold Belt and are of mantle origin and not directly subduction‐related. Structural, thermochronological and geodynamic analyses of the Grasberg, Porgera, Ok Tedi and Frieda River deposits show that the richest deposits occur along the eastern edge of the intersections between long‐lived crustal transfers perpendicular to strike and strike‐parallel crustal extensional faults that were strongly inverted during Late Miocene ‐ Pliocene orogenesis. The deposits are all associated with north‐northeast‐trending transfers, parallel to the aeromagnetic grain in basement, across which the continent‐ocean suture shows >50 km horizontal separation, as identified by the southern limit of the central New Guinea ophiolites. In the fold belt, the transfers coincide with the termination of regional anticlines or uplifts that are 150–200 km long and 30–60 km wide. Balanced sections reveal that the southern limit of these regional anticlines is commonly fault‐bound and coincides with major facies and thickness changes, indicating long‐lived, crustal extensional faults that were inverted. Fission track and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar cooling ages show that mineralisation occurred during inversion of these faults and, hence, correlates with propagation of orogenesis from northeast to southwest. It is proposed that the pre‐compression New Guinea margin comprised step‐like promontories and embayments delineated by long‐lived crustal fracture zones, as on Australia's North West Shelf. During Late Miocene ‐ Pliocene compression the crust was thickened, accompanying melting of the underlying mantle, and the crustal fracture zones were reactivated as transfers. Where the transfers intersected crustal extensional faults that were being inverted, local zones of dilation occurred, allowing emplacement of mantle magmas and associated mineralisation. When the deformation propagated southwards, so did the crustal thickening and the reactivation of major faults, allowing emplacement of younger magmas and mineralisation.     

Palaeogeographic and geodynamic evolution of the Gondwana continental margins during the Cambrian

During the Cambrian, two types of continental margins occurred around Gondwana. The eastern margin (Antarctica, Australia and southern South America) was characterized by a narrow continental shelf with a steep slope separating the shallow water environment from a deep-oceanic one accompanied by mafidultramafic volcanics. The western margin was characterized by a wider continental shelf, probably passing gradually to an unknown outer basin. This comprised three main domains: the Asiatic shelf, composed of distinct cratonic blocks, presumably separated from each other by deeper-water/ volcanic intracontinental basins; the European shelf, characterized by the development of shallow intracontinental siliciclastic basins; and the Americanc-African shelf, morphologically and depositionally uniform. The distinction of these two Gondwana continental margins expresses their different geodynamic behaviour during Cambrian extensional tectonics. In fact, the sedimentary/palaeogeographic evolution, suggests the establishment of an active Pacific-like margin in the eastern domain, and the tentative establishment of a divergent Atlantic-like margin, in the westem one.